Imagine her surprise when a man standing behind her responded with a polite ''Yes, but you didn't.''

The man was the artist.

''I guess she thought I was a bum,'' White chuckled. ''I like those responses. I truly do because anybody who thinks getting in touch with their emotions is easy, is wrong. Sure, once you see something it's easy to replicate. But in order to do it the first time, it's a pretty hard concept to come up with.''

Daryl Dissinger poses at his southwest style chess set. Dissinger created the table, chess pieces and even the chairs that go with the set.

A-J photo/Wade Kennedy

White's latest painting theme takes on a new twist, in more ways than one.

He focused on tornadoes, but not just the ones that destroy buildings and homes.

''I also focused on storms and tornadoes inside people, where they have to deal with their own emotions,'' White said.

There was another first for the successful and humble artist, whose paintings hang in the homes of Mel Gibson, Robert Redford, Whoopi Goldberg and many other celebrities not to mention famous collections in museums around the world.

He collaborated with someone else on the theme of tornadoes.

When White had a welder put bars on a museum he owned in Post, he encountered Daryl Dissinger.

White said he thought Daryl was so quiet and soft spoken, it seemed as though he thought deeply about things.

So they started talking and became friends. One day, White told Dissinger that he needed help with a show and suggested some ideas.

White saw what others didn't: the quiet artist inside Dissinger.

Now Daryl's pieces sit alongside White's paintings in the Algerita Arts Center in Post. They are on display until July 11.

Dissinger's first collection includes desk lamps whose bases are formed in the shape of Texas. The stems are layers of wire that swirl like a tornado. Other work includes built-from-scratch chairs and a table that serves as a homemade chess board. The pieces have a western theme, such as a cowgirl queen and windmill rook.

Despite his talent, Dissinger says he is not an artist.

''I'm really not,'' insists Dissinger. ''I'm not doing it for the money either. I would simply have dreams of stuff, and then I would make it. I do it because I want to.''

White, who grew up in Tahoka and now lives in Post, recognizes Dissinger as a welder who makes all kinds of sparks.